Daft names for British characters in US things

[George White]

Charlie Hunnam is a fucking terrible actor. I doubt many people on here have seen Green Street because it's a shit film about wankers, so behold Mr. Hunnam's cockney:

How could any director hear that and say "Yep. That's the portrayal of cockney that I want in my film about cockney football hooligans"? He makes Dick Van Dyke sound like Bob Hoskins.

Lloyd Cole is from Buxton.

He sounds like Bob Mortimer's Train Guy.

[Pink Gregory]

Joss Whedon went to Winchester College, so while his English names sound absurdly toffish they're probably representative of the sort of English people he knows.

He does seem to think that 'pillock' is a *devastating* insult.

[Edinho]

Hi all, I have had to de-lurk from your wonderful forum to remind everyone that the West Wing's Thatcher analogue was called "Maureen Graty". It's annoyed me for 20 years; no Prime Minister is gonna be called Maureen, no human is going to be Graty.

[George White]

Hi all, I have had to de-lurk from your wonderful forum to remind everyone that the West Wing's Thatcher analogue was called "Maureen Graty". It's annoyed me for 20 years; no Prime Minister is gonna be called Maureen, no human is going to be Graty.

Played by Pamela Salem, no less.


Milton Overpeck (Don Knight) from The Hawaiians (1970)
Sir James Fryar-Smythe (Arthur Malet) and Sir Richard Westby (Peter Wyngarde in his brief Hollywood era, Gloucester bus station as far from his mind as anything) from the Disney Gallegher TV movies
Lord Hedriks (Roy Dotrice), Lady Melodie LaFontaine, Duchess of Fitzhurst (Kathryn Leigh Scott), Halliburton (Michael Ensign), Eric Fromby (Xander Berkeley!), Arthur Fromby (Gerry Gibson), Elijah Croon (Stefan Gierasch) and Agatha Devon, Marquessa of Throxhall (Paddi Edwards) in Tales of the Gold Monkey
Insp. Jeffords (William Glover), Edward Ridley Jones (Roger Newman), Tara Danberry (Karen Mayo Chandler), Lady Selwyn (Antoinette Bower) in Bring Em Back Alive.
Lord Killebrew (Ian Abercrombie) in Airwolf

The Night Gallery Camera Obscura has a few (William Sharsted, Abel Joyce, Amos Drucker) but it was based on a British story by Basil Copper using those names and written as caricature. Ditto the version of Algernon Blackwood's the Doll with John Williams as 'Hymber Masters'

The 1960s US Judy Carne/Victor Maddern/Dennis Waterman sitcom Fair Exchange set in London had a few - Willie Shorthouse (Maurice Dallimore), Brian Summers (Michael Anderson Jr), Ronald Trowbridge (Paul Collins), Dr Tinslay (Jack Raine)

[George White]

Amy Bleeker in Designated Survivor
The Reverend Dr Salem Mozart in Kolchak

[George White]

Watching an old Italian war film  Overrun and the main character is called 'Captain Nobert Leighton', plus 'Ann Coran'.

[Edinho]

.

Conan Doyle criticised other detective fiction writers for coming up with shite names, too, so he obviously felt he was good at it. (Specifically, calling their detectives names like, IIRC, "Inspector Ferret").

From memory quite a lot of the names in the Sherlock stories were a bit "uncanny valley Englishman", especially the upper class ones.

[mjwilson]

I'm too lazy to check upthread to see if this has already been said but I'm watching The Diplomat and the prime minister is called Nicol Trowbridge.

[George White]

NCIS - Hugo Ratcliffe and MI6 head Jessica Terdei, and British Ambassador Sybil Rigg.

[grainger]

.
From memory quite a lot of the names in the Sherlock stories were a bit "uncanny valley Englishman", especially the upper class ones.

Talking about Doyle and posh names, a fact I just found out (or rediscovered) is that he added the "Conan" part to his name so he sounded more posh.

[Dr Rock]

From comics  one of Sgt Fury's Howling Commandos, fighting in world war 2, part of the team was Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton. Thee are subtle clues that he might not be hetero...

[George White]

General Hospital - Nigel Penny-Smith as played by professional Lord Bumberchute (a term invented by our own Ocho to describe  types who lean into English stereotypes too eagerly)
Days of Our Lives - Miss Lavinia Peach

[George White]

Buffy had Quentin Travers, a combination of PL Travers and Quentin Crisp.

[Blue Jam]

Vanessa Kensington in the first Austin Powers film. She's named after a posh bit of London, that's how you know she's posh.

[Blue Jam]

And Irvine Welsh is a Scot. False advertising!

[Gulftastic]

Charlie Hunnam is a fucking terrible actor. I doubt many people on here have seen Green Street because it's a shit film about wankers, so behold Mr. Hunnam's cockney:

How could any director hear that and say "Yep. That's the portrayal of cockney that I want in my film about cockney football hooligans"? He makes Dick Van Dyke sound like Bob Hoskins.

Lloyd Cole is from Buxton.

In a film where Frodo Baggins is a top boy in a hooligan firm, his accent still manages to be the daftest thing about it.

[George White]

Vanessa Kensington in the first Austin Powers film. She's named after a posh bit of London, that's how you know she's posh.

Actually, she's named after a Toronto market, reference to the CBC sitcom King of Kensington, where Myers debuted.

[gilbertharding]

I know that Tim Canterbury from The Office isn't in an American show, but with a name like that, he should be.